1910 (<1913) The Ovoid Muse​2017 SOLD for $ 57M including premium

The art of Brancusi is too fundamental, too seminal and too personal to be associated with any artistic movement. Very gifted in his hands since his childhood, this son of poor Carpathian peasants arrived in Paris on foot in 1904. The period is exceptional : the artistic Parisian bubbling opens the way to his creativity.

He learns with Rodin that the human figure can be reduced to a single element. A head lying on a ground symbolizes the serenity. He appreciates from Gauguin that Oceanic tribal art can influence the modern universal art through its extreme simplification of forms. The skilled bearded strongman chooses the direct cut contrary to the practice of his time. He will influence Modigliani.

Brancusi began in 1907 to conceive his series of masterpieces. In Le Baiser he is the first artist who suggests a development of Cubism in sculpture.

In 1909 he creates the prototype of La Muse endormie in white marble. The lying head is an egg in which the facial features and the hair are only lightly incised. The nape of the neck is used as a support. Despite the stylization it is unquestionably a portrait of his model the baronne Frachon. The artist succeeded in the impossible synthesis between geometry and portraiture.

In 1910 Brancusi produces three plasters and six bronzes from his first Muse endormie. The bronzes are cast by Valsuani but the patina different in each of the bronzes is executed by the artist himself with a painstaking care.

On May 15 in New York, Christie's sells one of the six bronzes, 27 cm long, lot 32 A estimated $ 20M. This specimen has an exceptional matte and warm patina enhanced in places with gold leaf which is perfectly suited to the illusion of serenity desired by the artist. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.

1911-1912 Woman and Caryatid2014 SOLD for $ 71M including premium

Amedeo Modigliani is a young Italian immigrant who is learning the tendencies of modern art in Paris at the Bateau-Lavoir. From his meeting with Brancusi he discovers the sculpture in direct carving, perfectly suited to his skills : Modi operates quickly and without rework.

Brancusi is one of the greatest innovators of sculpture. Reacting against the realistic details of clay and bronze, he is the first to seek beauty through basic and simplified forms that will lead him up to abstraction.

Brancusi and Modigliani find inspiration for their new styles in the antique and African arts. In 1910, Modi draws women topped with a tablette in reference to the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. His series of busts made ​​in 1911 and 1912 will be his temple of art.

Modi is not yet famous. He uses limestone blocks taken from construction sites and carries them in a wheelbarrow to his modest studio in Montparnasse. His heads of women create around him a crowd of pure and stylized faces with the intense force of a tribal ceremony.

On June 14, 2010, a caryatid bust 64 cm high including the cubic base was sold for € 43,2M including premium by Christie's.

On November 4 in New York, Sotheby's sells a bust, 73 cm high including the base, lot 8. The press release of October 3 is announcing an estimate in excess of $ 45M.

His female heads are a synthesis of all ages and all civilizations.They are simple as the Cycladic idols, noble as queens of Egypt, Mannerist as a Botticelli, mysterious as African masks, serene as deities, geometric like the art of his friend Brancusi.They are designed to be viewed as a group, such as the Cariatides of a Greek temple.

Made in a very limited quantity, they were dispersed.Only the artist in his small studio in Montparnasse, or some friends at an exhibition in 1911 or 1912, could breathe the mystical atmosphere of the whole.

One of these statues, made of Parisian limestone, 64 cm high including the cubic base, is on sale at Christie's in Paris on June 14.It is obvious that this lot, estimated € 4 million, is exceptional.It is shared in an article in French by Le Figaro.

Modigliani carved the stone in direct cut.In 1914, he had to give up his vocation as a sculptor for reasons of health and money.His brush was as clever as his chisel to express the purity of the curves, and he became the best portrait painter of his time.

POST SALE COMMENT

The information provided by Christie's did not leave any possibility for doubt: this sculpture is a masterpiece. Result: € 43.2 million including premium.

​1913 The Analysis of Rhythm​2017 SOLD for $ 70M including premium

Under the watchful eye of Apollinaire the young artists are trying to define the pure painting. Fernand Léger is in the group. His creative desire is limitless. In 1910 with his large oil on canvas Nus dans la forêt, he applies to a landscape the solutions of analytical cubism.

Léger admires the advances made by Cézanne while wanting to escape his theories. Geometric construction is indeed no more than a technique. The introduction of movement in painting by the Futurists is promising but remains anecdotal. Painting needs nothing else than displaying pure lines, shapes and colors which will capture the interest of the viewer by their own rhythm.

Like Kandinsky in Murnau, Léger conducts in parallel his pictorial trials and his theoretical research. His Femme en Bleu painted in 1912 is the switch into abstraction of a cubist work based on a classic theme. Balancing on this border between narrative and abstraction, Léger manages immediately afterward a reverted move in which the forms of the woman reappear. This oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm was sold for $ 39M including premium by Sotheby's on May 7, 2008.

Léger goes much further than Kandinsky and precedes Mondrian and Malevich : art can be abstract without any need to rely on a figurative sketch. In 1913 and 1914 he achieves about fourteen abstract paintings under the generic title Contraste de Formes. A contract with Kahnweiler brings him stability in his living conditions. The support by this merchant also slows down his habit of destroying his own works when the artistic effect does not respond to his perfectionist desire.

On November 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 14A a Contraste de Formes painted in 1913, oil on burlap 92 x 73 cm.

The progress made by Léger is decisive but soon interrupted by the stupid war that will annihilate Apollinaire. He will give up abstraction, no doubt because the effort to reach his own target for perfection was too exhausting. After this ephemeral momentum towards pure painting he will become an original image maker of modern life.

1915 Inventory on a Checked Tablecloth2014 SOLD 35 M£ including premium

The Cubism of Juan Gris experienced a rapid and powerful development. At first, the analysis of forms is deconstructing the figurative subject. The loss of the third dimension leads to collages.

In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.

In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop. This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, is estimated £ 12M, for sale by Christie's in London on February 4.

1915 is the year of the highest creativity for Gris. Staging a lesser variety of objects, two less dreamlike paintings had been discussed earlier in this column.

Livre, pipe et verres, 73 x 91 cm, was sold for $ 21M including premium at Christie's on November 6, 2008. Le Livre, 73 x 60 cm, was sold for £ 10.3 million including premium at Christie's on February 7, 2012 .

POST SALE COMMENT

By its bold composition and vivid colors, this painting is a masterpiece of Cubism. It was sold for £ 35M including premium.I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's announcing the still life painting of the 2014 sale:

1916 Malevich, 1916. That's it.2008 SOLD 60 M$ including premium

The artworks of very high prices are often subject of legal trouble. Fourteen works by Malevich were housed in a museum in Amsterdam since 1958. This year, an amicable settlement was negotiated with the heirs of the artist, in which five of these paintings were returned to them. They are shown in a press release of April 24 of the Stedelijk Museum, I invite you to consult it.

Now the heirs entrust one of these works for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 3. This oil on canvas 88 x 70.5 cm was painted in 1916 and entitled "Suprematist composition (blue rectangle over purple beam)."

The announcement of Sotheby's insists that the work dates from the same year as the Suprematism Manifesto. Two of the works returned to the heirs (not included in the sale) date from the previous year and are even more deprived. One of them gives an illusion of perspective, the other an illusion of movement. The painting for sale does no longer provide an illusion : it is a composition based on around fifty rectangular colored beams spread over a white background. The size, proportions and colors are varied. The angular positions show an opposition between the purple beam and most others. Malevich succeeds here on his approach of an art that completely escape nature and feeling, to retain only the aesthetics of color and geometry. Malevich wanted that art is understandable in the same way in all countries.

$ 60 million is not nothing. Sotheby's said that the price could be exceeded. This painting takes place among the most expensive artworks of all time. Malevich's paintings are very rare in the art market, and this one is of the best year.

POST SALE COMMENT

Malevich painting took its place in the cultural barometer of the highest recorded prices in an art at auction: $ 60 million charge included.

1917 A Nude Woman sitting for Modigliani2010 SOLD 69 M$ including premium

For the third time, a masterpiece by Modigliani creates the event at auction.

In 1917, having abandoned the sculpture, Modigliani focuses on the painting of the nude to express his vision of the ideal woman.Sometimes the model is standing or lying, but the woman sitting naked on a couch, known as La Belle Romaine, is undoubtedly one of the best.

This oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm, shows a woman happy to be watched, confident, intimate.The painter is quite successful, with a purity of line and a warm tone of flesh which is the top of his art.It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.

Paris was quite prudish at that time, having probably already forgotten the friend women of Toulouse-Lautrec, and the exhibition of Modigliani's nudes at the Galerie Berthe Weill was forbidden for indecency at its opening.Our painting was perhaps one of them.Modigliani, a true great artist, had not deigned considering the academic decorum.

On 20 November 1987, the Parisian art market suddenly started to rise with the fabulous Georges Renand collection.La Belle Romaine, sold 41 MF, tripled the French auction record and leaved for Asia.At the same sale the other Modigliani owned by Renand, a Woman with Black Tie, was sold 34 million francs.

On November 11, 1999, la Belle Romaine is sold for $ 16.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York, world record at the time for a Modigliani.

It comes back on November 2 at Sotheby's in New York.The estimate is not published in the catalog but the press release told that it can fetch $ 40M.

POST SALE COMMENT

La Belle Romaine is a masterpiece that transcends all variations of the market. Whenever it appears on the market, its exceptional quality is confirmed. Its latest feat is at $ 69M including premium.

The file below is shared by Wikimedia :

​1917-1918 The Ideal of Intimacy​2015 SOLD for $ 170M including premium

The still young artist endeavors to show the perfect woman while going beyond his own life plagued by tuberculosis and alcohol. Around 1911, the heads carved by Modigliani transcend all artistic styles.

In 1917, he found that ideal in the nude. He has no money but that does not mind. His small workshop contains two chairs, a sofa and a bottle of cognac. He is alone with a girl paid by his dealer. Zborowski had a good : the girls are pretty. Around them is war. The time is not conducive to shameless exhibits. Modigliani's nudes are a scandal.

Amedeo is a nice guy. He establishes empathy with those anonymous visitors for a day. He expresses tenderness and intimacy better than any other artist. He obtained this effect by a subtle color work. Pink is not warm enough to express the skin: the artist creates rich colors tending to reddish or apricot.

On November 9 in New York, Christie's sells a Nudo Rosso, oil on canvas 60 x 92 cm painted in 1917 or 1918, lot 8A.

This reclining nude is a masterpiece of harmony, similar on that way as the Belle Romaine seated nude that was sold for $ 69M including premium by Sotheby's on November 2, 2010.

The voluptuous curves emphasizes the confidence of the model with her back slightly arched above the couch and her outstretched arms. Eyes without pupils are monochrome, enabling the viewer to better capture the quiet waiting of her gaze. The wild locks on the forehead indicate that this ideal woman is a character from real life and not a model prepared for art.

The press release of September 3 announced a hope beyond $ 100M. Let me add a comment: this superb painting is worth such an expectation.

​1919 The Last Hope of Amedeo​2016 SOLD for £ 38.5M including premium

Amedeo and Jeanne entered together into the legend. When they met in 1917, Amedeo was 33 years old and Jeanne was 19. She sacrifices her desire to become an artist and becomes the companion of the cursed painter, alcoholic, drug addict, consumptive and moreover a Jew in a society that was not tolerant.

Peace is back. In 1919, Amedeo Modigliani is again able to reveal the ideal woman, as in the time of his sculpted heads of 1911 and 1912. For a long time his weakened health prevents him from cutting the stone. The sensual nudes painted in 1917 and 1918 brought a sinuous outline of the women's body. Warm colors worked with an extreme care provide comfort and kindness that show to which extent the interpretation of that hypersensitive artist as a wild genius is wrong.

The portraits by Amedeo of his intimates are recognizable but they are not realistic because they must represent an absolute. Small in life, Jeanne is tall for Amedeo. Her green eyes become intensely blue to express innocence and fidelity. The arms become more elongated with gestures that are altogether expressive and quiet and above all typically feminine.

On June 21 in London, Sotheby's sells at lot 12 the portrait of Jeanne au foulard (with scarf), oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm painted by Amedeo in 1919. The press release of June 6 announced an expectation beyond £ 28M.

The muse does not laugh : her mouth is again sulky, as in her other portraits. The specificity of this artwork is in the eyes drawn with visible pupils, increasing the emotional presence of the young woman just as if Amedeo had just decided to abandon his signature uniformly blue eyes. This painting could be one of the last portraits of Jeanne.

1919 was a year of great creativity for Modigliani. Here are two results for less empathetic portraits with eyes full of sky : £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013 for Jeanne au chapeau with a protective gesture of the hand ; $ 43M including premium by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015 for Paulette in the stiff attitude of her 15 years old.

1919 Portraits in Montparnasse​2015 SOLD for $ 43M including premium

Amedeo Modigliani came back from Nice to Paris in May 1919 with Jeanne and their baby Giovanna. Helped by Zborowski, he set up his studio rue de la Grande Chaumière. Peace had returned and a period of great creativity begins for the artist.

Since he had to give up sculpture because of his failing health, Amedeo is primarily a portrait painter. His models are the people around him in the art world of Montparnasse and humble fellows who cannot be his customers. His paintings are difficult to sell.

The portraits of seated models at the Grande Chaumière are set up similarly with small variations in the position of the hands and the orientation of the head. The format of the canvas increases, close to life size. Amedeo also works on the harmony of rare colors.

When Paulette Jourdain arrives at Montparnasse, she is a still a child at only 15 years old. She obtains to work for Zborowski. She is the last model of Amedeo in 1919. Her portrait, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm, is for sale at Sotheby's in New York on November 4, lot 12T. The estimate beyond $ 25M was announced in the press release of 4 September.

The search for expression is dominant over realism with two signature innovations in Amedeo's art : a tall neck creating a neat distance between head and body and the eyes completely filled in blue that announce surrealism and are certainly a proof of kindness of the artist for his model. A blue eyed portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne with Hat, oil on canvas 92 x 54 cm, was sold for £ 27M including premium by Christie's on February 6, 2013.

I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's. The image is shared by WikiArt.